Peter Collins has worked his way into my heart with this one. After all, he's included both of my favorites...circles and anagrams...in one puzzle.The theme is revealed at 55A: Party snack (and a hint to this puzzle's circled letters) (mixed nuts). And from there, I was on a roll with the theme answers. By the way, each of the hidden mixed nuts can be found in the picture.
16A: Farberware set (saucepans).
22A: Coffee maker component (filter basket).
36A: Bothers (chews at). That expression sounds strange, although I've been known to say that something is chewing at me.
44A: Longtime ABC newsman (Sam Donaldson). I had the D*ON at the end, and his name popped into my head. I love when that happens.
There were several names I didn't know in this puzzle, but I was able to get them from the crosses.
15A: "Hard Cash" author Charles (Reade).
18A: Film director Morris (Errol).
29A: Huffington of the Huffington Post (Arianna). With the letters I had in place, I was able to flat out guess that...the crosses confirmed it.
35A: HBO's "Da __ G Show" (Ali).
26D: Susan who wrote the best seller "Compromising Positions" (Isaacs). I've never even heard of it.
27D: Sighter of the Pacific, Sept. 25, 1513 (Balboa). Another that I guessed with a few letters in place.
31D: 1939 Academy Award nominee Brian (Aherne). According to Wikipedia, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (his only nomination) for his role as Emperor Maximillian von Habsburg in "Juarez."32D: Political hostess Perle (Mesta).
Favorite clues include 30A: Talk that might get one in trouble (sass), 39A: Post-vacation, say (rested), 57A: Bullet followers (items), 11D: Words with a familiar ring? (I do), 21D: Overseas (abroad)...I initially read it as oversees, so wanted it to end in an S, 25D: Get in trouble, in a way, with "on" (tattle), 28D: Yen or yuan (Asian money) and 53D: Red letters? (CIN)...which took me forever to get.
I absolutely loved 10D: Providers of life lessons (hard knocks)...a multiword answer, and K appears twice. What's not to love?
Other favorites include 31A: Embryonic membrane (amnion), 34A: Hitter of 511 lifetime home runs (Ott)...didn't realize that, 40A: Home tool maker (Skil), 43A: Twisted thread (lisle), 48A: Heraldic border (orle), 49A: Sony subsidiary (Aiwa), 5D: Like a certain court (papal), 9D: Mother __ (Teresa), 36D: Some bayou residents (Creoles) and 47D: Singer of the anthem "Sang till Norden" (Swede)..."Song of the North."
Dixie appears for the second time this week...at 46D, clued as [Classic song with the words "Look away! Look away! Look away!"]. It appeared as one of the [heart] clues on Valentine's Day.
I would be remiss in my boomer duties if I failed to point out 17D: "__ Coming" (1969 Three Dog Night hit) (Eli's). Maybe Wendy will serve up some Three Dog Night in her entertaining music blog. Check it out if you haven't already...and be sure to go back often.
My project is finished and on its way. While fundraising is a huge part of working in nonprofit administration, I'll be happy to get back to my old routine of hands-on help to those in need. There were two apartment fires in the last week, and we've been bombarded with requests for housing displaced families. Unfortunately, we only have two emergency units, and both were filled quickly. It's tough work sometimes...whatever we can do, it's never enough.
I'm off to bed...early morning blood draw to see how things are progressing. Here's the grid...
...and I'll see you tomorrow.
Linda G
8 comments:
Coincidentally, Arianna (actually Huffpost) is right next to LindaG in my bookmark (2 K's!) banner.
I like it when the theme is an aid in solving, as was the case tonight. After Sam Donaldson / almond, I relied on the theme to get pecan and filbert. Cashew / chews at was a little iffy, but the crosses verified it. Still not sure about chews at.
I'd never seen Amnio with an N on the end before.
Very enjoyable puzzle, if a a bit Wednesday-level of difficulty.
It took me a long time to get CIN too but I had a big smile when it finally occurred to me. I thought maybe GOP at first for red states or something. Fun puzzle.
The puzzle was fun and as Karmasartre said a bit Wednesdayish. The theme did not help me at all but was fun to decipher after I finished..
By the way Wendy did do a Three Dog Night blog the week before the Super Bowl and highlighted Eli's Coming
OK, I still don't get CIN. Go ahead and tell me how dense I am ...
Btw, ARIANNA Huffington was one of the pioneers of blogging. She began the Post back in 2005, and it was one of the first political blogs to gain traction and show the world what a blog could be. It's set up differently from the way ours are, but it's still the same notion of ongoing commentary in that space. I love her.
ERROL Morris - all, please check out his great documentary, The Fog of War, about Robert McNamara's role in the Vietnam War. A chilling but moving view of one man's hindsight concerning his pivotal role in a tragic time in our history. I can't say enough about it.
Haven't seen Perle MESTA in a while! She was a staple in the Maleska days. During the time I grew up in Washington, she was a fixture in high society. I don't know why, exactly, but as a young girl I found the notion of a Washington hostess to the glitterati fascinating. The late, great Washington Star had a society columnist, Betty Beale, who wrote about MESTA's parties week in and week out. More than you probably wanted to know ...
Loved today's word assortment overall.
And Linda, merci for the shout-out on my blog - Eli's Coming is actually lurking in there already, on Jan. 20!
I get to explain a sports clue...woo-hoo! Wendy, you may groan loudly, but please don't smack yourself. CIN = Cincinnati Reds.
I remembered the Eli's Coming/Superbowl connection, but I did a quick scan of your labels last night...Three Dog Night wasn't there. Figured I'd read a comment somewhere but the post hadn't really happened.
The downside of this morning's blood draw is that I can't even have coffee...and I'm starving. On the plus side, I was able to sleep in until 7:00...a real treat.
Oh good Lord. Take away my Ohio citizenship - now!
Now I see a deficiency with my label system - I don't add the name of the artist to it; only other references within the post. Duh! I'll have to go back and rectify that sometime when I have an hour I don't know what to do with.
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